Home office supplies can hike energy bills

Trudy Pickett / Columnist

Sunday

Feb 16, 2014 at 12:01 AMFeb 16, 2014 at 6:58 PM

As you go about setting up your home office with a new computer, printer, fax machine, and maybe even a copy machine, consider that this equipment is going to add to your electricity bills. A computer alone may not use more energy than your television, but once youíve put it all together, an office full of equipment can definitely make its mark on your energy use.

As you go about setting up your home office with a new computer, printer, fax machine, and maybe even a copy machine, consider that this equipment is going to add to your electricity bills. A computer alone may not use more energy than your television, but once youíve put it all together, an office full of equipment can definitely make its mark on your energy use.

Many electronic devices continue to use electricity even when switched off. Most draw only a few watts, but with several pieces of office equipment, the power drain can add up. The only solutions are to physically unplug these appliances, or to turn off their power strips. This is easy, and it protects your equipment against voltage surges such as lightning strikes.

Youíll obviously have other considerations besides energy when you buy your equipment, such as speed and capacity. Fortunately, you can find Energy Star labels on almost every type of office equipment, at all levels of speed and features. Energy Star devices will have lower operating costs than other equipment.

Newer computers tend to be more energy-efficient than older ones. This is partly because the demand for portable or laptop computers drove manufacturers to make more efficient components so batteries would last longer. These efficiency improvements now appear in desktop machines. That doesnít mean that they will actually use less energy than older computers however. Why? Because the new computers can do more ó and that requires more power.

Laptop computers use much less energy than desktop computers. A typical laptop uses a maximum of 15 watts and it powers down (goes to sleep) when itís not used for several minutes. A typical desktop computer uses about 130 watts (including the monitor). If you are buying only one computer, a laptop offers the extra versatility of being portable. On many laptops, you can hook up a separate full-size monitor and keyboard for use when youíre at home.

For desktop computers, an Energy Star label tells you that the computer has a sleep feature. Although not quite as good as turning the machine off, this is very useful if you must leave your computer on all the time to receive faxes through a fax-modem.

The monitor accounts for about half the energy use of a typical computer setup. Large monitors use more energy than small ones. Color monitors use up to twice as much energy as monochrome ones. And high-resolution monitors use more energy than low-resolution models. Like computers, Energy Star monitors have a sleep feature that powers them down (to 30 watts or less) after a period of inactivity. You can also cut your monitorís energy use by turning it off whenever you arenít actively using it. Even if you hesitate to turn off your computer for half an hour because you donít want to wait for it to start up again, you can still turn off the monitor.

Next week: Energy-efficient printers and copiers.

Source: Energy.gov

Trudy W. Pickett is extension family and consumer agent at the Lenoir County Cooperative Extension Center, 1791 N.C. 11/55. Reach her at 252-527-2191 or trudy_pickett@ncsu.edu.

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